China reports a rise in COVID-19 infections in recent weeks, with COVID-19 overtaking influenza as the most common respiratory pathogen in the country for the first time this year. Both outlets report that most people who test positive experience mild symptoms. Chinese public health authorities also say the current infection level appears lower than the peak seen last year.
The reported increase is linked to the spread of the Omicron NB.1.8.1 variant, which China’s CDC characterizes as having “moderate” transmission. Instead of publishing a weekly total number of new cases, the CDC provides testing data. For the week of July 13–19, the COVID-19 positive rate reached 16.3 percent, rising by 4.3 percentage points from the prior week, while the influenza positive rate was 12.6 percent, down by 0.9 points.
The outlets also cite that, in the previous month, mainland China recorded 79,000 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 130 severe cases and one death, according to the CDC.
